Afghan President names Pakistan as terror ‘sanctuary’

Amritsar, Dec 4 (IANS) Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday unambiguously named Pakistan for promoting terrorism and said no amount of financial assistance can help stabilise the war-ravaged nation if “support to terrorists” from the neighbouring country continued.

Ghani, in his blunt remarks at the inaugural function of the 6th ministerial ‘Heart of Asia conference – Istanbul Process on Afghanistan’, said military operations in Pakistan have brought about selective displacement of terrorists.

“The state-sponsored sanctuaries exist in Pakistan. A Taliban figure said recently if they had no sanctuary in Pakistan, they wouldn’t last for more than a month,” Ghani said at the two-day event here on the development of Afghanistan, which is also being attended by Pakistan’s de facto foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz.

The Afghan President thanked Pakistan for its pledge to donate $500 million for reconstruction of the war-ravaged nation but, directly addressing Pakistan’s top diplomat, said: “I hope, Mr. Aziz, that you use it to fight terrorists and extremists in Pakistan.”

“Silence and inaction against terrorism in Afghanistan and our region will only embolden terrorists and their masters….”

Modi said mere action against “forces of terrorism” was not enough and the world also needed to act against “those who support, shelter and finance them”.

Ghani earlier appreciated India’s unconditional support for the economic development of Afghanistan and said the expansion of the key Chabahar port between India, Iran and his country was very important for regional trade and connectivity.

He spoke about India’s assistance in the construction of Salma dam — officially called the Afghan-India Friendship Dam — that was inaugurated on June 4, 2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Ghani in Herat province of that country.

The President said the Chabahar port development project “is very important for connectivity and commerce”.